Adam Duncan, 27
Ultimate fighter | Crime prevention officer
 

Story by Nan Wu
Video by Caroline Zilk
Photo by Chiara Della Cava

As a crime prevention officer, Adam Duncan understands the importance of planning.

“I rely heavily on my Outlook calendar,” says Duncan, a rape aggression defense specialist for the MU Police Department. He finds time management to be one of his biggest struggles. “Summer was the security presentation time for parents, September is sexual assault awareness month, and October is the alcohol responsibility month.”

He works with the Rape Aggression Defense program, which is the police department’s most popular resource for women. In RAD classes, Duncan teaches women prevention strategies, physical techniques and a full-contact simulation in which students use 100 percent force to defend themselves against physical assault. To keep RAD free, Duncan has used his time over the past three years to raise funds for the program.

“The majority of the time, Duncan is the face of our department,” says Captain Scott Richardson of MUPD. “He is very easily motivated and usually speaks for our department on campus security and residential issues.”

Additionally, Duncan launched the new online MUPD system that records the serial numbers of laptops. It replaced the old hard copy system. As a free cautionary measure to prevent theft, the police department also permanently marks laptops with an etching machine.

“Duncan is one of the most hard-working people you’ve ever known,” says Kim Dude, director of the MU Wellness Resource Center. She worked with Duncan in the Alcohol Awareness Program to speak to parents about alcohol-related crime prevention.

Duncan teaches justice law and is the youngest instructor at the Mizzou Law Enforcement Training Institute, a police academy recognized by the state. His long-term career goal is to enhance the proactive law enforcement at both the education and policy levels. “We need to utilize lessons learned from past events and remember why we do our job,” he says.